☆ ☆ ☆
A
Most Violent Year (2014) – J. C. Chandor
Grim, somewhat turgid, tale of a heating
oil executive contending with a variety of stresses in early ‘80s NYC. Oscar Isaac is subdued in the lead, perhaps
because he plays an extremely controlled guy who is motivated to overcome the
obstacles against all odds (which include robbers hijacking his trucks, the
district attorney bringing down corruption charges, and a risky business play
that starts to go sour). Jessica
Chastain is his crass wife, daughter of the previous company president who ran
the company as a gangster rather than in the upstanding way Isaac wishes to
pursue, and she is a piece of work (but doesn’t always feel as though she is in
the same film with the others). So, it’s
an unusual story – about a business man, his wife, his banker, and his lawyer
(played by an unrecognizable Albert Brooks…except for his voice) – that threatened
not to hold my interest. I mean, who
cares about business guys? Although there are elements of a thriller embedded
in the story, they feel tacked on to the plot in order to stop the
anaemia. The grimy New York locations
and sad old cars only add to the effect.
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